Å›rÄ«-bhagavÄn uvÄca
guṇÄnÄm asammiÅ›rÄṇÄá¹
pumÄn yena yathÄ bhavet
tan me puruá¹£a-varyedam
upadhÄraya Å›aá¹sataḥ
Å›rÄ«-bhagavÄn uvÄca - the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; guṇÄnÄm - of the modes of nature; asammiÅ›rÄṇÄm - in their unmixed state; pumÄn - a person; yena - by which mode; yathÄ - how; bhavet - he becomes; tat - that; me - by Me; puruá¹£a-varya - O best among men; idam - this; upadhÄraya - please try to understand; Å›aá¹sataḥ - as I speak.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O best among men, please listen as I describe to you how the living entity attains a particular nature by association with individual material modes.
The word asammiśra indicates that which is not mixed with anything else. Lord Kṛṣṇa now explains how each of the three material modes (goodness, passion and ignorance), acting separately, causes a conditioned soul to manifest a particular type of existence. The living entity is ultimately transcendental to the modes of nature, being part and parcel of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but in conditioned life he manifests material qualities. This is described in the following verses.
